Brendan Rodgers has criticised the ‘poor’ performance of the referee in Leicester’s EFL Cup quarter-final defeat to Liverpool on Wednesday.
Andy Madley was the man in the middle at Anfield and was left with a difficult decision to make after just 10 minutes when Reds youngster Tyler Morton crunched Ricardo Pereira with a sliding tackle.
The 19-year-old was only shown a yellow card, much to the surprise of the Northern Irishman.
“It was a poor challenge,” the former Liverpool boss said post-match (via HITC).
“It was a poor challenge but I thought the referee was poor all night.
“You know me, I don’t normally comment on the referees. But there were bookings that should have gone in the first half.
“We had one moment where Madders [James Maddison] is away, and if he’s away then he makes the pass and we are through into that dangerous position that we were in throughout the first half.
“It was Jordan (Henderson) that was clever and took the foul and there’s no yellow card.
“Then, in the second half, he was giving out yellow cards for not a great deal. I thought the referee was poor all evening, to be honest.”
If Jurgen Klopp’s men would’ve dropped down to 10-men then the game certainly would’ve been very different.
The standard of officiating is a hot topic at the moment, but due to the fact VAR is not used in the EFL Cup, maybe Morton was lucky to remain on the pitch with the referee not having the opportunity to see a replay of the challenge.
At times in the first half, the visitors were cutting through our side at ease and looked like scoring every time they broke past the halfway line.
The introduction of Ibrahima Konate at halftime, alongside James Milner and Diogo Jota, changed the game significantly and ensured Leicester no longer had it all their own way.
It ended up being a great night at Anfield and although the EFL Cup is not really a priority for us this season, it’s still a major honour and a chance for more silverware.